Yankees mull pushing
THE CORNER infield spots have been problematic offensively for the Yankees, and with Chris Carter and Chase Headley struggling, there’s been focus on rehabbing first baseman Greg Bird and top prospect Gleyber Torres.
But during the Yankees’ 8-0 win on Wednesday over the Red Sox, both Carter and Headley made an impact. Carter broke the game open with a three-run blast in the third for his sixth homer of the year and finished 3-for-4 with four RBI, while Headley finished 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored.
Carter homered for the second straight day and had just his fourth multi-hit game of the season. He was also robbed of a home run in the eighth inning by Mookie Betts on a play on which a fan made contact with the ball before Betts caught it. Bird has been playing in rehab games while working his way back from an ankle bruise and on Thursday will move up to Triple-A.
“I think we knew he was capable of hitting. We just felt like that he had to make some minor adjustments and he’s been working really hard at it,” Joe Girardi said of Carter. “It’d be great to get that bat going, because that’s a big bat.”
The Yankees signed Carter to a one-year deal to provide insurance power after he hit 41 homers last season with Milwaukee. On Wednesday, he upped his average to .202 through 119 at-bats.
“I don’t really know what’s gonna happen when (Bird) comes back, but I try not to worry about that too much,” Carter said.
Girardi tried to challenge the play on which Carter was robbed, but the challenge was denied. Girardi was told he didn’t get his hand up within the 30-second limit but he felt he did, and he wants to speak with MLB about the rule.
“I felt I did do it in time. Even though I didn’t put my hand up right away, I thought it was within 30 seconds,” Girardi said. “It’s a very tricky play. It doesn’t happen very often. If it’s not the third out, you’re gonna be OK in that situation.”
Headley was 12 for his previous 86 entering Wednesday’s game, but he thinks one night can give him a lot of confidence.
“I think being a switch-hitter is a blessing and a curse sometimes,” Headley said. “It’d be nice to go out there and face another righthander tomorrow and just keep building off it, but we’re gonna have a lefty. So it’s a little bit more challenging sometimes to get out of a skid when you’re not going great from two sides. But I feel like I’ve had some good work and I’m taking better swings and hopefully that starts to translate.”
Masahiro Tanaka will make his next start: but will it be Sunday against Baltimore or Monday in Anaheim? That’s the question the Yankees are currently weighing right now.
“We could possibly back him up until Monday and try to get everybody else more rest, but we’ll have to see where we go with that,” pitching coach Larry Rothschild said.
Tanaka is 0-5 with a 10.72 ERA and 11 homers allowed in his last five starts. The Yankees are 5-7 in the 28-year-old righty’s starts this season and only Bartolo Colon has a worse ERA among qualified starters (7.78 to 6.55).
“It’s inconsistency,” Rothschild said. “There are some good splits and some bad splits, and the same with sliders and location of fastballs. I think it all stems from the same thing, and we need to make sure we can solidify his release point. And that’s an oversimplification of what we need to do.” Tanaka got crushed in his last start against the Orioles at Camden Yards on May 31, giving up seven runs on nine hits in 5.2 innings. The Angels, on the other hand, ranked 23rd in runs scored as of games played Tuesday and are currently without the best position player in baseball, Mike Trout, due to injury.
The Yankees could have someone like Bryan Mitchell make the start on Sunday, with Chad Green piggybacking. Top pitching prospect Chance Adams is the most intriguing name, but probably doesn’t have enough high minor-league experience